The Strain of Life
by Insane Innocence
Summary: Life is never easy. That is exactly what Anna, a girl barely moving onto Destiny Islands with her foster family thinks. With her horrible feelings towards herself, how will she manage with such 'happy' people around? PreKH.
1. Welcome Back to the Living

**The Strain of Life**

She was never supposed to be introduced into their world. She was never even supposed to wake up. No one knew why she did, it just happened......just like magic.

-Five Months Earlier-

A scream rang through the halls of the large building, rudely awakening the patrons that had been put there to heal. Medical officials were rushing around, reassuring the frightened patients as they did their best to stop the ruckus.

"Where the hell am I?! What have you done to me?!"

The owner of the rough voice was a young woman in a private room who was busily pulling needles from her body, along with anything else that got in the way of her angry hands. She was frightened, she wouldn't deny that, but she was upset. Upset that she couldn't remember a damn thing.

"Please calm down, Miss, you're waking the others!"

"Others?! What 'others'?!" Screamed the enraged girl.

"The other patients of this hospital!"

"H-hospital? How.....did I get here?"

The nurse gave the girl a sympathetic look, filling the young woman with dread. Was something wrong? What happened? Was she in serious danger? Oh Gods, she was dying, wasn't she?

"Someone dropped you off here nearly seven years ago, Miss, when you were about eight....I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you've been in a coma most of your time here....."

"Seven years?" That seemed too long. "What happened?"

"You got yourself into a bit of an accident. Thats all we could tell. Sorry."

"Please," begged the girl. "tell me who I am!"

The nurse stared down at the young woman in shock, taking the time to study her features as she thought of an answer for her. Due to the good grooming of one of the morgue employees, she had shoulder length auburn hair with a pair of stunning amber eyes. She had rather pale skin and it was truly sad to see the scars her accident left. A jagged scar presented itself neatly upon the left corner of her lip and another scar showed on her eyebrow and chin. The most hideous, though, was the one that ran from her cheek bone to her collar bone. The scar was pink and nearly a quarter of an inch wide. There would be no way to get rid of it.

The young woman growled and demanded an answer from the nurse, tearing her abruptly from her thoughts. heh, the woman was left with nothing left to do but giver her a false name since they were under the impression that she had none.

"Your name....is Anna Laura Pastrana."

"Anna Laura Pastrana?" Why did the name sound so....foreign? "Where is my family?"

"Dead, I'm afraid. You're an orphan, luv, but we'll get you a family soon enough!"

Before an other word could be said, the nurse left the girl now known as Anna to her thoughts. An orphan? Lovely. She had woken up alone and that was the way it was gonna stay for a while. Tears collected in her eyes as she thought of what to do. Obviously not much since she was the estimated age of 15. Life was already hell.

"This will be your new home, honey."

Anna winced at the comment. She didn't want a new home, but she did admit that the place was nice. It was a nice, middle-class home right smack in the middle of no where on an island. The waters of the ocean had amazed her on their way inside, but she didn't think of that right now. She had already been led into her new room, being encouraged to unpack her things. The walls had the same color scheme as the ocean and there were light blue curtains hanging over the windows. This place was truly amazing.

"When you're done, would you like to go swimming? I'm sure the water is nice!" Came the chipper voice of her stepmother.

"Swimming?"

"Yeah! I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends!"

Anna squirmed in place. "A-alright.....I'm sure it couldn't hurt....."

The water was sparkling as it usually was and three teens were sitting on the tree of the little spit of land no more than a few feet from the water's edge, chatting away happily as they watched the waves off in the distance.

"Sora, Riku, what do you guys wanna do? I'm so bored!" exclaimed the tired Kairi, tossing the silver haired boy along with the brown haired on a curious glance.

"I dunno......Sora?"

"Beats me."

"You guys are no hel- who's that?" The young redhead pointed at a dark silhouette in the distance by the pier, turning the attention of the boys upon it.

"I dunno."

"Riku, is that your asnwer for everything?!"

The silver haired boy grinned. "I dunno."

Kairi gave an aggravated sigh and hopped off the tree and running across the makeshift bridge, obviously heading toward the unknown figure. Sora and Riku wasted no time in following her, their curiosity getting the better of them just like any other person on Destiny Islands. Anyway, Kairi could move quickly when she wanted to. She was at the pier only seconds ahead of the guys.

"Hi there! I'm Kairi....who are you?"

Anna offered no answer just quite yet. The sound of more footsteps made her frown and she turned on her heel to face them. Startled gasps sounded off from the small group and the auburn haired girl knew they were staring at her scars.

"What? Are my scars really that interesting?" Came the pained voice of the young woman.

"Huh? No!" Sora answered for the group, blushing in shame.

The teens averted their gaze and Anna suddenly felt......strange. She felt uglier than usual. Was she really that disfigured? Tears threatened to spill over the rims of her eyes, but she blinked them back.

"By the way...._Kairi_," came an annoyed voice. "my name is Anna. Now please, excuse me."

Rushing past the group, she was stopped short by a strong tugging on her wrist. Turning to scold the person grabbing her, she was breath taken by a pair of aqua eyes. Cold, aqua eyes. For a brief moment, she felt how powerful he really was and she yanked her wrist out of his hand. The moment she was free, she ran home, tears leaking from her eyes.

"What was her problem?" Kairi spat out, glaring daggers at Anna's back.

"I dunno...did you see those scars, though? I mean like, woah! They were huge!" Sora explained as though trying to jog the other two's memory.

"They were really.....nasty."

"Don't say that you guys. I'm sure it wasn't her choice to get them,"Riku growled. How could his friends be that way? Anna's obvious upset was over her scars. "she's really strong, too. We better keep an eye on her."

"Agreed!" Rang Sora and Kairi's voice in unison.

AN: Hi there...tell me if ya liked it or hated it, okay? I'm open to all suggestions and if I feel inspired enough, I'll add a chapter!


	2. The Fear of a New Beginning

Early AN: I'm doing this mainly to test the reaction level, but if I don't get enough reviews, I'll just stop now. Thank you!

"Sweetie, whats wrong?" Came the worried voice of her Stepmother.

"Nothing, just tired is all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Anna rushed up the stairs before an other question could be asked. She feared that if the woman pushed it, she would surely break down infront of her. Padding on into her room, she closed and locked the door behind her, resting her forehead against the light weight wood. She already knew if the rest of the islands occupants were like the little group she met today that she would surely lose her mind. She was already upset with the way she looked and the fact that she couldn't remember anything of her life before waking up in that God awful hospital. She wondered what it was like.....to have memories to look back on. She sniffled softly and went over to her bed, sitting down and looking out the window and at the beach.

"I hate it here."

A knock sounded lightly on her door nearly two hours after Anna had gotten home. Currently, she was napping lightly before dinner, but that didn't stop Gloria, the stepmother, from walking in.

"Anna? Are you okay?"

A quiet murmur told Gloria that she had been napping.

"Someone is here to see you....."

Anna sat up abruptly, turning to face her stepmother when a familiar face caught her attention. Those eyes.....she would never forget them. The raging aqua....her jaw dropped. At the very moment Riku had walked in, he came to an abrupt stop, staring at the teen. The lighting of the room was dim since the sun was going down and the silver haired boy couldn't see Anna's scars. In fact, in his opinion, she looked like a fallen angel at that very moment. Her hair was mussed a bit and her eyes held a certain sparkle, the same one that had died the moment they all had gasped at her scars. She looked lovely.

"You shouldn't be here."

"I wanted to talk to you."

Gloria took a hint and left. Deep down inside, both teens were thankful.

"What do you want?" Anna's voice was harsh...and for good reason.

"I wanted to know why you were being so rude down at the pier. Now." Riku glared at the girl, muscular arms folding neatly over his chest.

Anna frowned. "If I do remember correctly," she bit back a whole string of profanities. "you and your friends were the ones that couldn't seem to contain their excitement over my scars."

Time seemed to stop for Riku. He recalled that moment and felt terribly ashamed for what he did, but it wasn't...wasn't....normal for a girl to have scars like that! Was it so wrong that he had been shocked? She sure seemed to think so.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave...."

"Riku. My name is Riku."

"Alright, Riku. My family and I will be having dinner soon, so you're gonna have to leave."

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What.....!" Riku was out the door in a second, leaving no room for arguement. Anna fumed silently.

-The Next Day-

"Did you learn anything about her?"

"No, she was really short with me."

"I see...." Kairi gave a disappointed sigh. "Are you gonna try again today?"

"Yeah, I'll go over in a few minutes."

"Okay."

She was dreading today. She had no idea when Riku would be over and it just made her completely nervous. Sure, he was cute, but from what she had seen in his eyes, he was cold to her. She shivered. His eyes....they looked very well guarded. And Gods, was he hot!

"Stop it, Anna, don't think that!"

"I didn't know you talked to yourself."

Turning to look at her door, she saw Riku standing there. The color in her face immediately drained and she put up a stoic mask.

"When did you get here."

"A few minutes ago." Riku flashed her a charming smile. She melted inside.

"I see....well, what do you want?"

"To know more about you."

A pained look crossed her features and she reached up, tracing the pink scar over her cheek. Riku took notice of this and frowned. By the way she winced, he was sure it still hurt her either physically or emotionally.

"You and me both."

"What do you mean 'you and me both'? You have to know!" Riku closed the distance between them, placing himself at the foot of her bed.

"Who said I have to know?!" The young teens growled at each other. "When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything about myself!

"Thats ludacris!"

"Thats the truth! Only thing I know is that my name is Anna and that I'm 15! I woke up in a hospital on this island not knowing a damn thing!" Tears slowly began to spill over Anna's cheeks and her voice became harsh, cold.....scared. "I was horribly scarred and I slept most of my life away!"

"Calm dow-"

"No! I will not calm down!"

The young woman's body began to shake as she sobbed, striking a cord of sympathy in Riku. The silver haired teen began to scoot closer to her and took the distressed Anna into his arms, though they both hesitated at first. A gloved hand reached up and began to stroke her hair lightly, his eyes softening.

"Don't worry anymore, Anna," he murmured softly. "it'll get better."

AN: Good? Bad? Horrible? Please, let me know!


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